{{quote|After the end of the [[First Age]] the power and wealth of [[Khazad-dûm]] was much increased; for it was enriched by many people and much lore and craft. . .|[[Appendix A]]}}

{{quote|After the end of the [[First Age]] the power and wealth of [[Khazad-dûm]] was much increased; for it was enriched by many people and much lore and craft. . .|[[Appendix A]]}}

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'''Khazad-dûm''' (also known as ''[[Moria]]'', ''The Black Chasm'', ''The Black Pit'', ''Dwarrowdelf'', ''[[Hadhodrond]]'', ''[[Casarrondo]]'' and ''[[Phurunargian]]'') was the grandest and most famous of the mansions of the [[Dwarves]]. There, for many thousands of years, a thriving [[Dwarf realms|Dwarvish community]] created the greatest city ever known.

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'''Khazad-dûm''' (also known as ''[[Khazad-dûm#Names|Moria]]'', ''The Black Chasm'', ''The Black Pit'', ''Dwarrowdelf'', ''[[Khazad-dûm#Names|Hadhodrond]]'', ''[[Khazad-dûm#Names|Casarrondo]]'' and ''[[Khazad-dûm#Names|Phûrunargian]]'') was the grandest and most famous of the mansions of the [[Dwarves]]. There, for many thousands of years, a thriving [[Dwarf realms|Dwarvish community]] created the greatest city ever known.

It lay in the central parts of the [[Misty Mountains]], tunnelled and carved through the living rock of the mountains themselves. By the [[Second Age]] a traveler could pass through it from the west of the range to the east.

It lay in the central parts of the [[Misty Mountains]], tunnelled and carved through the living rock of the mountains themselves. By the [[Second Age]] a traveler could pass through it from the west of the range to the east.

Revision as of 21:33, 20 June 2011

"Who told you, and who sent you?" — Gandalf
This article or section needs more/new/more-detailed sources to conform to a higher standard and to provide proof for claims made.

The name Moria refers to more than one character, item or concept. For a list of other meanings, see Moria (disambiguation).

It lay in the central parts of the Misty Mountains, tunnelled and carved through the living rock of the mountains themselves. By the Second Age a traveler could pass through it from the west of the range to the east.

First Age

Durin the Deathless thus became King Durin I of Khazad-dûm. Afterwards, other rulers of Khazad-dûm were sometimes named Durin, as they were considered to be his reincarnations, who the dwarves believed came to live again among his people.

As the millennia passed, the descendants of Durin sat upon the throne of Khazad-dûm, and their cavernous city became famous throughout the world. It even has a passing mention in Quenta Silmarillion, the tale of the Elf-lords and their wars far to the west, though to them it was no more than a distant rumour they heard from the Dwarves of the Blue Mountains on their borders.

Second Age

Doors of Durin

In c. 40 of the Second Age after Beleriand was destroyed by the War of Wrath, most of the Dwarves of Nogrod and Belegost began leaving en masse from their now ruined cities for Khazad-dûm. The city was enriched not just in numbers, but in the western Houses' skills in smithing, crafting and masonry. All these factors created a renaissance for Khazad-dûm, and brought its prosperity to its zenith.

After the Sinking of Beleriand, the Noldor, founded a country of their own by the western gate of Khazad-dûm, Eregion. A rare friendship sprang up between the Dwarves and the Elves of this new land. Eregion's ruler, Celebrimbor, helped to construct the famous and magical gate that became known as the West-gate of Moria, and indeed went so far as to present King Durin III with a Ring of Power. The friendship of Khazad-dûm and Eregion came to a sudden end, however, in II 1697. Sauronoverran the country of the Elves, and despite the best efforts of the Dwarves to help them, he succeeded in destroying Eregion and driving away the survivors. With the Elves dead or fleeing far away, the doors of Khazad-dûm were sealed against Sauron's forces, and Khazad-dûm went into seclusion.
It was also during this time that the Orcs reinvaded the mountains and made war on the Dwarves. TakingMount Gundabad from the Kingdom of Durin.

Their seclusion was broken for a time with the beginning of the War of the Last Alliance. The Dwarves, led by King Durin IV, fought along side the Elves and Men in their campaign to destroy defeat Sauron for the last time. With the conclusion of the war the Dwarves went back to their country, and resumed their seclusion from the world.

Third Age

During this time Khazad-dûm further expanded its treasures, but despite this its numbers began to dwindle. Most of its great wealth was based on the Mithril that was found in its mines, and as the centuries passed, the Dwarves mined deeper and deeper for the precious metal. In the year III 1980, they dug too deep, and unleashed a nameless terror from the depths beneath the city. The creature wreaked dreadful destruction, and in slaying the then King, Durin VI, became known as Durin's Bane. In the following year, Durin's son, Náin I, was also lost, and the Dwarves fled their ancient home.

After millennia as one of the richest cities in Middle-earth, Khazad-dûm stood dark and empty, but for the brooding menace the Dwarves had released. In that time it was given a new name, Moria, the Black Pit.

The monster - a Balrog of Morgoth, as was later known - lurked alone in Moria for nearly five hundred years. After that time, the old city of Khazad-dûm began to be peopled again, but not by Dwarves. Orcs from the North began to enter the abandoned city to raid its treasuries, and occupy it. They also began to worship the Balrog as their deity. Soon afterwards, Sauron directed his creatures there, and Moria began to fill with Orcs and Trolls from Mordor. Though the orcs' numbers were greatly reduced in the Battle of Nanduhirion, fought in the valley beneath Moria's East-gate in III 2799, the Balrog could not be bested, and Khazad-dûm remained a place of darkness.

At some point between 2841 and 2941 the Wizard Gandalf entered the city looking for King Thráin II who had disappeared on journey to Erebor.

Balin's expedition

In III 2989, there was an attempt by the Longbeards to reclaim their ancient home. The expedition was led by Balin, who had accompanied Bilbo Baggins on the Quest of Erebor. He led a colony of Dwarves there from Erebor. The Colony was successful at first, killing a considerable amount of Orcs, taking many of the Eastern halls and finding many lost treasures such as Durin's Axe. They were however defeated and slain by the Orcs in 2994.

Possibly at some point after this Aragorn Chieftain of the Dúnedain entered Moria for some unknown purpose.

The Fellowship's passage

When Frodo Baggins set out from Rivendell with the Fellowship, they at first planned to travel over the Misty Mountains. When they were stopped by heavy snow on Mount Caradhras, they found themselves pursued by wolves and Orcs, and fled into Moria, so as to go under the mountains. There, they found Balin's journal in the Book of Mazarbul and learned the fate of his expedition. They were then set upon by a host of Trolls and Orcs, and they discovered that the terror was, in fact, a Balrog of Morgoth. Gandalf fought the Balrog on a narrow bridge and succeeded in destroying a section of bridge to make the Balrog fall. As it fell, the Balrog snagged Gandalf's leg with its whip of thongs and pulled him after it, sending them both plunging into the abyss spanned by the bridge. The rest of the Fellowship managed to escape Moria and reach Lórien mostly unharmed.

Unknown to the Fellowship, both Gandalf and the Balrog survived the fall and fought a ferocious battle from the depths of Moria to the mountains above, demolishing the top of the legendary Endless Stair and a part of the surrounding mountain peak in the process. Gandalf cast down the Balrog upon the mountainside and lived just long enough to see it die, but his story was not yet ended. (See Gandalf's entry for further details.)

While Gandalf had felled the Balrog, Moria remained a place of evil creatures until the Fourth Age.[1]

Retaking and Reign of Durin VII

Though little information is given, the retaking of Khazad-dûm by Durin VII seems to have occurred during the Fourth Age. He became King of Durin's Folk, and led a final return to the city. He was successful, and long after the War of the Ring, the Dwarves of Durin's line reclaimed their inheritance, and the hammers rang again in their great halls beneath the Misty Mountains until the race of Dwarves ended.

Layout

Khazad-dûm was a huge array of chambers, passages, mines, halls, stores and pits. In general, areas were either classed as mines or city. The mines were working sections of Khazad-dûm whilst the city was the area of habitation.

The city areas of Khazad-dûm were clustered primarily to the east; these were the oldest parts of the kingdom and had access to the Great Gates. They were structured into seven Levels and seven Deeps. The Levels stretched above the gate whilst the Deeps were set deeper within the mountain below the level of the East-gate. It is possible that the First Level (on which the Great Gates were set) and the First Deep were highly intertwined.

The eastern section of the city spaces had also been delved in such a manner as to have light shafts to illuminate their chambers. One example of this is the Chamber of Mazarbul which was located on the eastern edge of the Seventh Level.

The mine areas of Khazad-dûm were interlaced with the city spaces, but spread also westward toward the Doors of Durin. The mines ran deeper and further than any other tunnels within Khazad-dûm, and it is possible that more of the lower Deeps were given over to mining, although this is only conjecture.

The defined change between mines and city can be seen when the Fellowship pass through Moria - there is a marked difference between the early passages and chambers and those of the city structures illuminated by Gandalf.

Far below Moria, there are abysses, spaces and tunnels not known even by the Dwarves, but known by the Balrog. Unknown beings gnaw the earth and make them, far from the knowledge of any lore.

Etymology

The name Khazad-dûm in Khuzdul means "Dwarves' Mansion(s)". Khazâd being the plural of khuzd "Dwarves" while dûm (or possibly rather tûm) a word for "excavation(s), hall(s), mansion(s)" (it is not clear if the second word is in singular or plural form)

Names

Moria is the Sindarin name for Khazad-dûm, as called by the Gwaith-i-Mírdain, who for them was but a "Dark Chasm". Although the Dwarves considered it a derogatory name, Celebrimbor went as far as to write the name "Moria" in the West-gate. The name Moria is composed of the Sindarin elements mor "black, dark" and iâ "chasm, abyss".[source?]

The Elves translated it as Casarrondo (Quenya, name fiven by the Noldor)[2] or Hadhodrond (Sindarin). In Hadhodrond, the element hadhod is an attempt by the Elves to render Khazâd (the Dwarves' name for their own kind), into Elvish sounds + rond "cavern".[source?]

Phûrunargian meaning "Dwarrowdelf" was the Westron name for Khazad-dûm. The word derives from the stem phûru (Root PHUR), "to delve", and narak, narg-, "Dwarf".[3][3] The element nargian could be either an adjective "Dwarvish" or genitive plural "of Dwarves".Template:OrTolkien noted that the form Phûrunargian was "archaic" Westron although he did not mention the elements that make it archaic (over a possible vernacular form).[4]

Portrayal in Adaptations

"...there is much else that may be told." — Glóin
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